World Briefing | Europe: France: Bardot Is Latest Mugabe Critic

By John Tagliabue (NYT)

Published: February 5, 2003

Arguing that the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has trampled the rights of animals as well as of human beings, Brigitte Bardot urged France to withdraw an invitation for him to attend an African summit meeting in Paris on Feb. 21. France's decision to invite Mr. Mugabe opened differences within the European Union, which agreed last year to bar him from traveling to its 15 member countries because of human rights violations. But Ms. Bardot said animals suffered, too. Calling Mr. Mugabe a ''destroyer of nature,'' she wrote in an open letter to Le Figaro that ''white rhinoceroses, cheetahs, leopards, and so forth, are ensnared, elephants massacred, the forests set on fire, to allow poaching.'' John Tagliabue (NYT)